Treasure Hunt Make 'n Take

Here is a photo of our make 'n take for all you Treasure hunters!

Optional 2nd Page

Pirates Have Invaded

It's been so busy at the shop since the start of the Treasure Hunt. Wow, I remember why we love this time of year, we get to dress up, meet all of you, and have lots of fun! Plus, it's not over, we still have another whole weekend coming up. Here are some photos from our adventures so far:

Photos with Captain Jack

Demos with Kim

Demos with Bonnie

Making cards with Jill

Lots of people shopping, even Captain Jack found something he had to buy!

We are having so much fun with all you pirates! If you wanted to participate, it's not too late. We actually have a few Totes left and the Treasure Hunt runs until this Sunday, March 11th. It really is a lot of fun, I hope you will join us!

Look what we just got......

Sets, demos, and more coming soon

Cinnamon Roll Fail

We have all heard of Pinterest, you know that website we start browsing at 10:00 at night and by 1:30am realize we do, in fact, need to sleep although we would much rather be pinning fun projects we will never even attempt to do. Well, around Christmas time, I decided to be overly ambitious and try my hand at baking. This is something I cannot do and I decided to face my fears and tried a new recipe a couple times a week. Some came out ok but most went straight to the trash. My favorite baking fail was photographed by my wonderful husband because he seems to find my failures hilarious so I decided to laugh along and sent the photo to this fun website, craftfail.com. I tend to look at this site when I have seen the same dang flower tutorial 8,000 times and need a slight Pinterest break. So they added it to their site as a major FAIL and I thought I would share it with you:

My Cinnamon Roll FAIL

So now you know I can't bake and just to let you know, I attempted these one more time on Christmas day and same result. I am a complete cinnamon roll baking failure!

Oh, and if you have not heard of Pinterest, check it out Pinterest.com (Beware: If you value you your free time, do not look at this site!)

Buttons buttons buttons

It's crunch time at the shop, almost Treasure Hunt time and we like to use this as a chance for a little spring cleaning. We have had tons of help around the shop this week, including my two little girls. They have been coming with me every day to work and boy oh boy is that fun. My children, of course, are perfect (ha!) but today Audriella discovered a giant bucket of hundreds of buttons. What else is a two year old to do with a bucket of buttons but happily spread them all over the room that was just set up and vacuumed. My mother and I walked into this fun mess:

Time to clean up

New at Scraporium

Tim Holtz - His new products are beginning to arrive. Come get them before the Treasure Hunters do Plus New Stamps and more! Inky Antics - Honeycomb Paper restocked plus NEW Easter Stamps Custom Paper - We had custom made 12x12 paper for our local sports team, including: Bucs Rays Lightning Plus Scrapbook Treasure Hunt paper! We will be getting more product in this week and next week so keep checking for fun new products.

Treasure Hunt

Are you sick of me talking about the Treasure Hunt yet? Well, I thought you would be but it turns out that a lot of our regular customers that have been shopping with us for years have never done it once in the five years we've participated and a lot don't even really know much about it. Here I am thinking I have talked the thing to death with my e-mails, Blog posts, and pirate talk but maybe I should go over it just one more time and if you are even remotely considering it or even if you are not, read this and maybe I'll talk you into it.

First of all, in speaking with customers at the store and on the phone, it seems there are some common misconceptions about how it works so let me clear those up first:

1. You do not have to visit all 9 stores in one day or even one weekend. You have 10 full days to visit all nine stores in any order you would like. All stores will be open every day from Friday, March 2nd until Sunday, March 11th. Stores even have extended business hours on some days and if you call and check, some may be open a little early or stay open a little later on the weekends.

2. All the stores have closed and there are hardly any left. Yes, many stores have closed since the start of this event but there have been some that have opened too. We even added a new store this year, Sparkle and Sprinkle in Ruskin since one store in Sarasota closed. Plus, that just means the stores that are still open are trying to pick up the slack by having tons of great product for you to buy.

3. Gas prices are too high to drive all over town. Ok, unfortunately this one is true but I have no control over this one. The best and most fun way to do the Treasure Hunt is to carpool with friends. Get a group of four, take whoever's car is the most fuel efficient and everyone pitch in for gas. You will be able to hang out with friends, shop, and even stop for lunch along the way, sounds like a wonderful girl's weekend to me.

4. The stores are too crowded and some are small and have little parking. We are slightly guilty of this one. While we have plenty of room for all of you to shop in the store, parking is always limited at our store. We do have a Chase bank that just opened up next to us and there is a nice sidewalk that leads right to our shop so parking there will be easy and much easier to get out of. Yes, some stores are small but the only way for them to ever expand is to get business and they really appreciate your business. If you really want to avoid the crowds, go during the week. If you work and can't make it then, the second weekend is not nearly as busy as the first weekend and you can easily get it done in two days.

5. I can't participate because I won't have time to visit all nine stores. It's ok if you don't make it to all of them. The tote is only $10 to participate and with the tote and product, it retails for over $20 so right there you have already gotten a deal. Even if you only visit a few stores, you will still receive a 6x6 page from each store you visit and you will get a tag for your beads. You will not be able to be put in the drawing without completing all of them but you will have some great memories and probably some fun photos too.

So now that I have addressed all of your concerns and have talked you in to participating, here's what you need to do:

-Call Scraporium or come by the shop to get your Tote

Tote contains your passport (with names and addresses of all participating stores), beads, album, and other little goodies

-Plan your Treasure Hunt route and start with your first store on Friday, March 2nd (or whatever day you would like between March 2nd and March 11th)

-Visit your first store and collect your tag for your beads

Last year's tag

-Receive your 6x6 page for your album

Last year's page - Plus all stores are required to have an optional second page for a small charge. This will give you a 2 page layout for your album from each store, only if you want.

-Spend a minimum of $5.00 in each store and have your passport stamped

-Have your photo taken at each of the store's photo op (this is the best part)

We'll have Captain Jack on the weekends (check back here soon for Captain Jack's photo schedule)

-We'll even have some extra demos and fun on the first weekend

- Complete all 9 stores in any order you'd like

-You will have a week or more to turn in your passport Prize Entry form to be entered in that store's drawing and the grand prize drawings.

It really is a lot of fun and the stores get really into it. If you have never done it before, you should grab some friends and go treasure hunting. You won't be disappointed! Call the shop at 813-269-7946 if you have any other questions.